1. Field of the Invention
A plating clamp assembly to engage an article as the article is coated with a material.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Articles are sometimes coated with material for electrical conductivity, to create a particular aesthetic appearance or to provide a protective finish to prevent tarnishing and other deleterious effects from the surrounding environs. Articles that are so coated or plated often bear defects or faults in the surface finish resulting from the point or points of contact of the article support means used in the plating process. Thus, there is a need for a system or apparatus capable of plating or coating an article without surface faults.
An example of the efforts to design such an apparatus or system is found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,992,134 that relates to a method and apparatus for coating articles. The apparatus comprises an open framework or receptacle for supporting a tank containing a bath of a coating solution together with an upper article support means and a lower article support means to support an article such as a spoon during a dip coating process. Each article support means comprises a pair of corresponding Z-shaped members to selectively engage and support the article during the plating process. An actuating member including camming surfaces selectively opens the lower article support means and the upper article support means. Specifically, the upper article engaging members are normally closed under the tension of a spring; while the lower article engaging members are normally biased open under the tension of a spring.
After the upper article support rack assembly has been placed on the mounting mechanism a piston is operated to lower the mounting mechanism and the upper article support assembly together toward the lower article support rack assembly as the lower portion of the article is lowered into the bath. It will be noted that the normal supported position of the lower article support assembly under the biasing action of the spring is such that follower members are in contact with the top of lower cam surfaces. Movement of the mounting mechanism downwardly will cause the lower article support assembly to be lowered further into the bath against the upward force of the compression spring both the upper article support assembly and the lower article support assembly moving downwardly together in unison. This continued movement will cause the lower article engaging members to commence to close as follower members pivot as rollers abut against cam surfaces causing the plates to move to the closing positions. The upper cam surfaces will contact with follower members for the upper article engaging members so that upon further downward movement of the mounting mechanism the upper article engaging members will move into an open position by the action of follower members against upper cam surfaces. Thus transfer of articles from the upper support assembly to the lower support assembly is accomplished. Further downward movement of both upper and lower article support assemblies will cause actuating member at the top of the cam surfaces to abut up against the underside of plate members preventing further downward movement of upper article support rack assembly. It will be noted that the lower article engaging members have completely closed and that upper article engaging members have completely opened thereby completing the transfer of articles from the upper article support assembly to the lower article support assembly. After the article has been submerged in the coating bath, movement of the piston is reversed and the lower article support rack assembly is raised under the biasing action of springs. Further upward movement causes the upper article support rack assembly to move together again in unison with the lower article support rack assembly. Further upward movement will cause the upper follower members and the lower follower members to engage their respective cam surfaces causing the upper engaging members and the lower engaging members to be actuated, the upper engaging members closing and the lower engaging members opening.
Unfortunately, the apparatus and method of U.S. Pat. No. 2,992,134 is extremely slow due to the reciprocal operation of the article support means with a low throughput and resultant relative high cost per article. A need remains for an effective, efficient, high speed, low cost plating assembly.
The present invention relates to a plating clamp assembly for use with a plating system including a plating bath and an article transport assembly to selectively engage an article to be plated moved through the plating bath by the transport assembly to coat at least a selected portion of the surface of the article with material without creating faults on the selected portion of the surface of the article.
More specifically, the plating clamp assembly comprises a first clamp assembly and a second clamp assembly to selectively position the plating clamp assembly in a plurality of clamping configurations to load and unload an article into and from the plating clamp assembly and to selectively engage and disengage the article traveling through the plating bath during the plating process.
The first clamp assembly comprises a first clip assembly movable between a first or engagement position and a second or disengagement position and a first clip assembly positioning mechanism to selectively move the first clip assembly between the first or engagement position and the second or disengagement position as described hereinafter. The second clamp assembly comprises a second clip assembly movable between a first or engagement position and a second or disengagement position and a second clip assembly positioning mechanism to selectively move the second clip assembly between the first or engagement position and the second or disengagement position as described hereinafter. The first and second clamp assemblies operate independently of each other.
The first clip assembly and the second clip assembly each comprises a first article engaging prong and a second article engaging prong configured to operate in unison. The first clip assembly positioning mechanism and the second clip assembly positioning mechanism each comprises a chip positioning mechanism and a prong positioning mechanism to selectively move the first article engaging prong and the second article engaging prong of the corresponding first clip assembly and the second clip assembly between the first or article engagement position to a second or article disengagement position.
In operation, an article to be plated is grasped by the first clip assembly and the second clip assembly as the plating clamp assembly moves through the plating bath or processing chamber with the first clip assembly positioning mechanism and the second clip assembly positioning mechanism in the first or article engagement positions. As the plating clamp assembly travels or moves through the processing chamber, the first clip assembly positioning mechanism and the second clip assembly positioning mechanism sequentially and alternately move the corresponding clip positioning mechanism and prong positioning mechanism between the first and second positions to move the corresponding first and second article engaging prongs between the first or article engagement position and the second or article disengagement position to coat portions of the surface of the article with material without creating faults on the selected portion of the surface of the article.
The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.